“So he wanted Flame to give him money?” Fabian asked and Faith nodded.
“He saw you were vampires that night and he was so excited because he knew it would give him the leverage he needed to demand money. He called me to tell me he and Flame’s mother were going with you all to negotiate and I was to call the authorities if they didn’t come back in twenty four hours. Well of course they didn’t but I knew they wouldn’t.”
“How could you be so sure?” Damien’s curiosity was roused. “Did you go to the authorities?”
“No silly.” She shot that sweet smile of hers at them again. “I tried to tell father not to do this to you, that it wasn’t fair to use blackmail, but he only got really angry over the phone with me.”
Suddenly they all realised that was why Jackson seemed so pissed on the phone. He was arguing with Faith.
“So why didn’t you go to the authorities and why are you here little one?” Fabian’s tone was gentle and Damien had to struggle not to gape at him. He was being uncharacteristically nice to the girl, and it was strange to see it.
Faith’s eyes moved around the room. “You don’t understand why I’m here do you? I know you’re holding them prisoner here. I can see them in my mind. They’re locked in a cell under this house, in a hidden part of a dungeon; very creepy.” She flashed that smile again. “I’m here because I wanted to meet my sister, I wanted to see what real vampires are like but the main reason I’m here.” Her expression turned to ice, as did the expression in her bright blue eyes. The sweet innocent girl was gone. “I want that self-centred, arrogant bastard down there to die. I want to be here to see it and I want to watch him suffer and have the satisfaction of watching the life drain out of him. He used my mother all those years ago. He nearly broke her. He ruined her. So often I would see great sorrow on her face and then she got sick, really sick and then she was gone.” Tears filled Faith’s eyes.
They all sat in silence, shocked by Faith’s revelation but then Flame suddenly stood and walked to her sister. Without saying a word, she pulled her into her arms and hugged her.
Flame
As I held my sister, inhaling her floral type scent, my mind was reeling from all she’d told us. Everyone seemed shocked. Fabian’s reaction to her had been so guarded at first and Damien had been suspicious but now both men were being so sweet to her. I might have felt threatened by that but I knew Damien loved me. When I lifted my head to look over at him, I could see the love in his beautiful green eyes as he watched me with my sister. Fuck, I had a sister. Ok a half-sister, but still family that I’d had no idea about and she too had been rejected by our father, until he’d needed something from both of us of course.
“So what do you want Faith?” I asked her and she pulled back to raise her tear stained face to mine.
“I’m here to help you all. I don’t care what you are; I would never reveal to anyone what you are. Father thought I would help him, but when I found out I had an older sister I just did what I had to do to get the opportunity to come and meet you. I want to help you kill him, well, kill them. Your mother has suffered for the years she’s been married to our father but she still wanted nothing to do with me, even after my mother died and even worse she abandoned you, she went along with our father and didn’t fight for her own child. She’s no better than him as far as I’m concerned.” Faith’s expression grew serious. “The thing is, father is a telekinetic, ok, not a good one because he’s suppressed it all his life, but I think when confronted and it’s his life, he will fight back.”
“Why didn’t he fight his prison sentence several years ago?” Damien asked.
“What would have been the point? He can do like Flame, if he puts his mind to it.” She grinned suddenly. “Excuse the pun, but it’s not something that would have helped him avoid capture. To fight, physically yes, throwing things, but it’s not enough to elude capture. He’s a mean, cruel, manipulative man but not a fool. He served very little time between a good lawyer and behaving himself in prison.”
I released Faith and began to pace around the room my head spinning. So much was happening lately and I’d freaked out about turning vampire? That was a walk in the park compared to all the dramas since.
“So where are the rest of you?” Faith asked. “I know there’s another female vampire, Fran, Francesca you call her? She seems scary. Any visions I have where she’s in them, she’s scary.” She shuddered and I struggled to contain my smile. She’d pretty well nailed it on the head with Francesca. She could be scary but I knew under that sarcastic exterior was a woman who had a heart. Something had to have made her the way she was and I wondered if I’d ever find out what.
“There are more of you though, but they don’t live here do they?” Faith continued. “Although, you and you.” She pointed to Fabian and Sirene. “You have a son. I can’t quite see what happened to make that possible but he’s a child in a man’s body. That much I can see. Oh, I don’t mean he thinks like a child but he’s not very old, or he shouldn’t be. Something happened and now he’s a man and vampire plus he has powers, I can see that.” She suddenly giggled. “He has secrets too, he is not what he seems. Adrian is definitely not what he seems. Oh.” She suddenly gasped. “I can see him in my head. Oh he’s so beautiful and he’s…he’s…” She stopped abruptly.
“What, what do you see?” Fabian cut in.
Faith’s eyes shifted to him and she gave a tiny hint of a smile. “Oh, it’s not bad but it’s not for me to tell you. He must be the one to confess what he does, where he goes. I can’t do that, not when he is my…” She broke off again, a serene smile on her face.
I could see the frustration building on Fabian and Sirene’s faces. “What, he’s your what?” This time it was Sirene asking.
“Oh, I can’t say that now. I need to see him, but he’s not here and I don’t think he will be back for many hours. He doesn’t always come home. He has another place he often stays at.”
The tension in the room was suddenly nearly claustrophobic. I could almost hear the cogs turning in Fabian’s head and Sirene appeared deep in thought. Even Damien was looking at Faith like she’d grown an extra head or something. Ok, so I was suddenly curious about Adrian too. The man did have that air of mystery, he was always coming and going at odd hours and he dressed like a man who was used to being in control. He’d been very dominant with me on those occasions in the dungeon and my eyes shot open wide as realisation hit.
“Oh my god, I think he’s a Dom or something. He’s very, controlling, confident, he’s fucking very dominant.” I squeaked.
Damien burst out laughing at my words and I shot him a look of annoyance. When his eyes met mine, he abruptly stopped and struggled to wipe the grin from his face.
“Oh laugh at me smart ass but I was with him downstairs, remember and he was very…commanding.” I said, trying to find the right word to describe him.
Damien’s face darkened and something flashed in his eyes. “Of course I remember. I’m not likely to forget that in a hurry.” I could hear the pain in his voice and I felt my stomach tighten.
I walked over to him and cupped his cheek looking up into his turbulent green eyes. “I’m sorry my love. Will you ever be able to forgive me? I love you, only you, always and forever.” I whispered before touching my lips to his.
When he pulled me into his arms and his tongue pushed into my mouth, for those moments he kissed me, everything happening and everyone in the room were forgotten.
Chapter Twenty Six
Damien
As Damien kissed Flame, the longer his lips touched hers, the more his tongue stroked over hers, the quicker the flash of pain he’d felt over Adrian began to fade. He could feel himself hardening and dragged her closer, suddenly wanting her. Before he could potentially say fuck it all to what was happening with the arrival of Faith, he heard the distinct, loud clearing of a throat. Groaning he reluctantly pulled his lips from Flame’s.
When he looked up, his sire was giving him
a stern look which lacked conviction a little due to the mix of amusement and desire in his pale eyes. Damien glanced down and saw Fabian was erect and he raised an eyebrow at his sire before releasing Flame and stepping back. He needed to distance himself from her or he really would go all caveman, throw her over his shoulders and carry her off to bed.
“This is not the time.” Fabian warned. “You need to work out with Faith the best way of dealing with them downstairs. It would seem she has a better knowledge of your father given she’s been around him longer.”
“Were you going to use weapons or your vampire strength?” Faith asked.
“I haven’t really thought about it. What with getting back to work and dealing with being vampire around people….” Flame’s voice trailed off when Fabian frowned at her.
“No more procrastinating. I want them taken care of tonight.” He turned to Faith. “If they attack him with weapons, will he be able to stop them? Should they simply attack him unarmed?”
“Bring weapons, what do you have?” Faith’s enquiring look shifted around the room.
“We have daggers, stakes in case we ever have a problem with rogue vampires, a gun.” Fabian told her.
“Bring it all, well except for maybe the stakes. We’ll go now, something tells me we need to strike now. I don’t trust father. I suspect he’s up to something.” Faith straightened her expression grim. “Get what you need. I’m going down to see him.” She walked from the room.
“One of us will come with you and show you the way.” Damien called but she laughed.
“I know where to go. This house has no secrets from me.”
“Yeah, but there’s a secret compartment thingy.” Flame interjected but again Faith laughed as she turned to walk away.
“I know, I know, the stone I have to push. Don’t worry, I’ll find it.”
Damien turned to the others. “Well that was unexpected and kind of creepy. She sees everything and nothing is private. Fuck, is she going to be doing some visionary, psychic bullshit thing and get her rocks off watching us fuck in our bedrooms?”
Flame burst out laughing. “You might be giving her ability too much credit Damien. Plus who says she’d get her rocks off watching us fuck?”
He smirked as he pulled her into his arms dropping a quick kiss on her lips. “Well you seem to get off just fine babe.”
Flame punched him lightly in the chest as she struggled with a reluctant grin. “Fuck off you idiot. I’m supposed to get off, you’re fucking me. Faith’s only watching unless she lets her fingers do the walking while she watches?”
“Can you two focus on what needs to be done now?” Fabian interrupted. “Besides that girl is an innocent. You can almost smell the virginity on her.” He turned to head out the door. “Come with me son. We will get the weapons.”
Flame
When Fabian, Sirene, Damien and I joined Faith in the dungeon I watched my half-sister for a moment. She was standing, back straight, eyes unblinking as she met our father’s angry gaze. He was hurling insults at her but she didn’t say a word, her expression gave nothing away. I had no idea if she was hurting from his verbal tirade but when I stepped up alongside of her, I gave her shoulder a squeeze.
“Huh, so consorting with the enemy now are we?” My father spat, disgust lacing his voice.
“Shut the fuck up you worthless piece of shit.” I growled angrily.
He snorted. “Is that the best you can do is it?” He sneered. “I thought you had all these powers but all I’m seeing is a pathetic little girl who doesn’t even seem to be much of a vampire.”
“I have fucking suppressed what I am for years because of you. You abandoned me because of it and yet you are one. You made me the way I am, you. Just because you couldn’t deal with what you are and felt shame, you were determined that I would too by packing up and walking out of my life. Well screw you. You can suppress it all you like but it’s still there. Show me, come on, show me what you can do.” I taunted him.
“You want to see what I can do? Ok Flame, I’ll show you.”
I heard a scuffle behind me and Damien’s surprised yell. When I spun around my mouth dropped open when I saw him, Fabian and Sirene pinned against the stone wall by the power of my father’s mind. The daggers had fallen to the floor and lay scattered. As I watched in horror three of them rotated marginally, appearing to move by themselves. “No!” I cried, but my father didn’t listen, instead the daggers lifted, one imbedding itself into Damien’s chest while one each were driven into the shoulders of Fabian and Sirene.
I watched in growing horror as the blood spread out from their wounds, their faces showing the agony that the daggers were causing them, but it was Damien, my poor Damien that I ran towards, watching helplessly as he slid down the wall, his body bumping and jarring over the rough stone wall until he was on the floor.
“No!” I cried again, dropping by his side staring in shock at the large stain of his blood that soaked his t-shirt. He couldn’t die; he couldn’t die from this surely? Didn’t it have to be wood to the heart? The daggers weren’t wood but they did have some on the handle. It was the highly sharpened and pointed blade of the dagger that was in him but as I watched it began to twist and turn, burying itself deeper causing Damien to cry out in pain.
I stood and mentally threw the remaining daggers towards my father but he simply deflected them before they could hit. I spun to Faith, desperation in my eyes. “You said he was weak that he wasn’t good at this.” I accused.
“He’s never done anything Flame. I swear I had no idea. He’s lied to us all, he lied to me, I’m sorry.” Tears filled her eyes.
“Sirene please do something.” I begged her but she gave a weak smile. I can’t move. He’s got us all pinned. It was too quick, he was smart. He knew to attack before we had time to get our guards up.”
“I think it’s safe to say I have you little girls’ right where I want you. You should not try and take on the big league. Now if you don’t want them to die and especially not lover boy there and you know if that dagger goes a little bit deeper and the wooden handle hits his heart, he’s gone…poof!” He blew his hands as if blowing away dust. “Now, release your mother and I. You can’t beat me. I’ve been telekinetic a lot longer than you Flame. Now do as I say, release…me.”
I turned from my father and met Faith’s frightened tear filled eyes and then to the others, Fabian and Sirene still pinned to the wall, held there by the unseen strength of my father’s sick and twisted mind and then to Damien, my beautiful vampire. The dagger was turning in him slowly and the pain had to be horrendous for him going by the agony etched in his face.
My shoulders slumped with defeat. I had to let him go. I couldn’t outwit him mentally, he was too strong. “Why, why did you abandon me if you are a more powerful telekinetic that I am? You made me feel ashamed for being what I am. I’ve run from people for years, too scared of having them find out and yet, you are one. Why? You owe me that much.”
“It’s simple little girl. I don’t like competition in anything and you were a threat plus, to be honest, I’m not much into kids. Your mother insisted on having you despite me asking her to abort. Kids cramp your style with all their demands, the vomiting, the nappies, so much mess and noise. It’s awful.” He shuddered. “Not to mention the expense. Do you have any idea how much money is required to raise a child? My career was going well and something about being a parent just took the shine right off my celebrity status.” He said and I felt sick at his words. I’d meant nothing to him, nothing at all.
“Why not dump me earlier than eighteen then?” I asked.
“Unfortunately the legalities of it make it hard to just walk away from a child. It was damn frustrating. I was forced to put up with you and simply keep you in the background so you wouldn’t be a disruption to my career.”
I stared at my father, no this evil creature wasn’t my father. He added a new dimension to lowlife. He wasn’t worth spending any more time on. I had t
o save Damien and that meant letting the bastard go, for now at least.
With an air of defeat, I went and got the key that was kept in a hidden compartment and slowly, reluctantly turned the surprisingly heavy, ornate key in the old lock. My father pushed the door open so suddenly, it hit me in the temple, breaking the skin and I began to bleed.
“Let them go.” I asked quietly but my father just started to laugh, he laughed and laughed in an almost demonic sounding cackle and I stared at him, defeated, broken. “You’re not going to release him are you?” I asked, my eyes shifting sideways briefly when my mother, silent through all of this, walked out of the cell and stood behind my father, quietly, meekly.
“Now why would I do a thing like that? I’ll release him, just as soon as he.” He pointed to Fabian. “Pays me my money. I’m fucking well not leaving here without…” He stopped abruptly just as the deafening sound of a gun being fired filled the area where we all were. It seemed to reverberate around the smallish area and I watched, confused at first at my father’s facial expression. He looked shocked, surprised, even stunned before slowly sinking to the floor. It was only just registering that there was a small, quite neat little hole on his forehead when another gunshot rang out and I screamed. “NO MUM!” But it was too late. The broken, defeated woman who had endured years of my father’s evil ways had finally had enough. She couldn’t make up for what she’d done to her daughter by leaving her but she had obviously decided to make things right now. She’d shot my father and taken her own life to avoid whatever we would have done to her I guess or maybe it was the thought of being alone. Living with a bastard like him was all she’d known for a few decades. Still whatever the reasons, my parents were dead, the stain of their blood flowing and pooling out around each of their bodies.
Passion And Fire (Passion #4) Page 34